Although computer networks have become relatively common both in office and in home networking environments, such networks are typically fairly sophisticated and require significant processing power, electrical power, and infrastructure to work well. Some networking applications do not require so robust a network environment, but can benefit from the ability to provide electronic communications between devices.
One such example is the Bluetooth technology that enables a cell phone user to associate and use an earpiece in what is sometimes referred to as a personal area network or PAN. Another example is a mesh network, in which a number of devices work together to form a mesh, such that data can be sent from a source device to a destination device via other devices in the mesh network.
Mesh networks often include multiple links from a network node to other network nodes nearby, and can thereby provide routing around broken links or paths by discovering other routes through the mesh to a destination node. New nodes to a mesh network are typically able to automatically discover the mesh network when they are activated in the vicinity of a compatible mesh network, and can easily join the network.
But, joining a mesh network becomes somewhat more complex in network environments where different frequencies or network identifiers are used. In ZigBee mesh networks, for example, different frequencies or channels can be used for different networks, such as to prevent nodes from one network from interfering with another network. A new node wishing to join a network must therefore find the appropriate frequency or channel being used by the intended network before it can join the intended network. This is performed in one example by searching among the various available channels until a mesh network is found, but confirming that the node has joined the intended network is difficult.
In addition to searching various frequencies or channels, some wireless mesh network technologies also sleep, or become inactive, to conserve power. For example, an array of battery powered sensors might be configured to wake up once every two hours and take a measurement, report the measurement via the mesh network, and go back to sleep. Use of sleeping nodes typically includes allowing end devices with reduced functionality to sleep, such as between taking and reporting measurements via router nodes that do not sleep. In other embodiments sleep times are synchronized between nodes in the network during configuration, so that all nodes are awake and able to contribute to mesh network communication at the same time.
But, in environments where mesh network nodes sleep for extended periods of time, it becomes difficult to add new nodes to the network or perform certain other node or network operations. There exists a need to provide wireless mesh network technology that addresses management of a mesh network with sleeping nodes.